{"id":1117723,"date":"2026-07-29T08:34:23","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T08:34:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1117723\/"},"modified":"2026-07-29T08:34:23","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T08:34:23","slug":"six-european-deep-tech-scale-ups-have-been-selected-for-major-eu-investment-backing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1117723\/","title":{"rendered":"Six European deep tech scale-ups have been selected for major EU investment backing"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Abstract<\/a>image: \u00a9cemagraphics | iStock
\n Six European technology companies have been selected to receive investment through the European Innovation Council (EIC) STEP<\/a> Scale Up programme<\/p>\n

The companies have been put forward for equity investments of between \u20ac10 million and \u20ac30 million each, subject to successful due diligence and final approval by the EIC Fund.<\/p>\n

Together, they could receive up to \u20ac97 million in funding to help bring cutting-edge technologies to market and attract further private investment.<\/a><\/p>\n

Supporting Europe\u2019s strategic technologies<\/p>\n

The six selected companies cover a diverse range of sectors that are deemed essential to Europe\u2019s future competitiveness, resilience and technological independence.<\/a><\/p>\n

French company Cailabs<\/a> is developing advanced ground systems to support laser communications, while Germany\u2019s Cylib<\/a> is focused on recovering critical raw materials from end-of-life batteries through recycling.<\/p>\n

Dutch business Paebbl<\/a> is creating technologies that transform captured carbon dioxide into sustainable construction materials, supporting efforts to reduce emissions within the building sector.<\/p>\n

France\u2019s SiPearl<\/a> is designing high-performance processors for sovereign European data centres and accelerated computing applications. Estonia-based Skeleton Technologies Group<\/a> is creating rack-to-grid power systems designed to meet the growing energy demands of next-generation artificial intelligence infrastructure. Also from France, Vsora<\/a> is developing ultra-high-performance AI inference technology for both data centres and edge computing.<\/p>\n

Competition for funding<\/p>\n

The interest in the STEP Scale Up programme continues to grow.\u00a0 A total of 24 companies submitted proposals in this funding round, with 17 progressing to interviews before a panel of independent high-level experts. Following the evaluation process, six companies met all eligibility and assessment criteria and have now been recommended for investment.<\/p>\n

A further six businesses were also judged to be of excellent quality but were not selected because of budget constraints. These companies will receive the STEP Seal, recognising the strength of their proposals and helping improve access to alternative funding opportunities and the EIC\u2019s Business Acceleration Services.<\/p>\n

Europe\u2019s scale-up funding gap<\/p>\n

The EIC STEP Scale Up scheme is designed to support one of Europe\u2019s biggest investment challenges by supporting companies that have already proven their technology but require substantial funding to expand commercially.<\/p>\n

Individual investments range from \u20ac10 million to \u20ac30 million and are intended to attract additional private co-investment, enabling funding rounds worth between \u20ac50 million and \u20ac150 million or more. This level of finance is often difficult for European deep-tech companies to secure, despite being essential for international growth.<\/p>\n

For 2026, the programme has a total budget of \u20ac300 million. It focuses on businesses developing strategic technologies in digital innovation, clean and resource-efficient industries, net-zero technologies and biotechnology, helping to reduce Europe\u2019s dependence on external suppliers while strengthening its industrial base.<\/p>\n

Applications<\/p>\n

The STEP Scale Up call remains open throughout the year through the European Commission\u2019s Funding and Tenders Portal<\/a>, with applications assessed every quarter. The remaining proposal deadlines for 2026 are 9 September and 25 November.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"image: \u00a9cemagraphics | iStock Six European technology companies have been selected to receive investment through the European Innovation…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1117724,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5174],"tags":[2814,2000,299,5187,7419,72595],"class_list":["post-1117723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-eu","tag-data","tag-eu","tag-europe","tag-european","tag-material-science","tag-research-and-science-funding"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/117002351449815702","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1117723","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1117723"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1117723\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1117724"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1117723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1117723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1117723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}